Music

Hear “A Hold On Love” From Erol Alkan’s Forthcoming Illumination EP

November 16, 2013

A Hold On Love is a cut from the forthcoming 3 track Illumination EP, Erol Alkan’s debut solo release, via Phantasy Sound. The two remaining songs have already been published on Soundcloud, along with details of the EP’s track listings. Upon reflection of this new material, it’s easy to see that Alkan has the EP’s songs positioned in a specific order to display his stance on dance music. A Hold On Love is the most similar to a traditional house track from Alkan, and the most traditional dance song on the Illumination EP. The throbbing 4/4 beat, the build-up and bringdown – both paint Alkan’s music as easy to categorize and recognize. Without the context of his EP’s other tracks, you’ll miss the point that he might be going out of his way to do this.

For ‘Love‘ Alkan extends his hands into the 90s and brings back the ghost of traditional techno house. In the song’s beginning a muted piano melody serves as the only thing covering a skeletal beat. Luckily, more sonics join in later by the song’s fade out and the atmosphere becomes more crowded while leaving enough room to dance. On this EP, it’s clear Alkan challenges himself as well as the genre of music he associates with. If you were to call this song ‘house music’ it’s clear this is Erol Alkan’s house, but everybody is invited to party.